Rising Smoke: SkyClan's Redemption
by Lion's Song
Summary: The newly rebuilt SkyClan is thriving, but there can only be peace for so long. A group of power-hungry new cats in the Clan rebel and break off to form one of their own. SkyClan must fend off this new threat, or risk being driven from their home...
1. Prologue & Allegiances

**Hello, Warriors fans! I'm Lion's Song/Lionsong/Monica. I am not new to this site or Warriors fanfiction; I previously published two Warriors stories that I took down because I wasn't happy with them. But this is an idea I'm proud of. With the upcoming release of SkyClan's Destiny, this is my own take on what happened to the Clan after Firestar and Sandstorm left. I DO NOT OWN WARRIORS, and I also do not own any of the cats that appeared in Firestar's Quest.**

**Full summary: **Moons after Firestar and Sandstorm left, the newly rebuilt SkyClan is thriving, but there can only be peace for so long. A group of power-hungry new cats in the Clan rebel against the structure of Clan life and break off to form one of their own. SkyClan must fend off this new threat, or risk being driven out of their home like their ancestors. Do they have enough fight in them?

_**PROLOGUE**_

_Night had fallen, and the storm raged on._ The only sounds that could be heard were the ominous rumbling of thunder and the drone of the rain as it pounded the earth. A flash of lightning lit up a forest clearing where six cats sat, five of them gathered around a small boulder where the sixth stood. The light illuminated the silhouette of a large, longhaired tomcat atop the boulder. Though his fur was plastered to his skin from the downpour, there was no masking the powerful muscles rippling beneath it. His eyes glinted as he surveyed the others below him.

"My friends," he began, lifting his voice above the rain and thunder. "My warriors. Be assured that the choice you made will not go in vain. Under my leadership, you will be freed from the shackles of a Clan and reap the benefits. No longer will we be bound by a code or guided by the pawsteps of cats long dead."

Another bolt of lightning struck the ground, this time alarmingly close to the group of cats. In the grass it ignited a small spark, which grew to a flame. The rain quickly doused the fire, but a trail of smoke rose from the grass as a result. The tom sitting on the boulder paused and swished his tail in satisfaction. _A perfect name, _he thought. He spoke again.

"Together we will emerge strong and fearless. Together we will rule this territory. Together… we are SmokeClan. SkyClan will never know what hit them."

As sinister murmurs of agreement rippled through the group, one small she-cat at the back bowed her head and closed her eyes in remorse. She wondered again if she had really made the right choice.

...

**SKYCLAN ALLEGIANCES**

**Leader:** **Leafstar** – brown and cream tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Deputy:** **Sharpclaw** – dark ginger tom

**Medicine Cat:** **Echosong** – silver tabby she-cat with green eyes

**Apprentice, Falconpaw**

**Warriors:** **Sparrowpelt** – dark brown tabby tom

**Apprentice, Aspenpaw**

**Cherrytail** – tortoiseshell she-cat

**Bouncefoot** – ginger tom

**Rockfur** – black tom

**Apprentice, Mintpaw**

**Tinywing** - small white she-cat with deep blue eyes

**Petalnose** - pale gray she-cat

**Patchfoot** - black and white tom

**Apprentice, Mottledpaw**

**Clovertail** - light brown she-cat with white belly and legs

**Minnowtail** - light gray tabby she-cat*

**Oakface** - longhaired very dark brown tabby tom, lighter brown stripes*

**Badgertooth** - black and white tom*

**Apprentice, Sagepaw**

**Sparkwhisker** - ginger and white tom*

**Fogfur** - small gray and white she-cat*

**Robinflight** - light brown she-cat*

**Slatestorm** - bluish-gray tom*

**Dawnspots** - longhaired calico she-cat*

**Apprentices:** **Mintpaw** – gray tabby she-cat

**Sagepaw** – pale gray tom

**Aspenpaw** - white tom with gray tabby markings*

**Falconpaw** - longhaired brown tabby tom*

**Mottledpaw** - tortoiseshell she-cat*

**The cats with a * next to their name are new additions to the Clan; former rogues or kittypets. Also, I know the prologue is short, but it's really just setting the stage for the story. I'd appreciate reviews, chapter one will be coming soon! Stay tuned!**

**- Lionsong**


	2. Chapter One

_**CHAPTER ONE**_

_Sagepaw stuck his head out of the apprentices' den and breathed in deeply._ The air was crisp and fresh, and though it carried a chill, the cloudless dawn promised another warm day. Sagepaw knew the Clan would be thankful for the new arrival of Leaf-fall, anyway. Greenleaf had been largely humid, and there was very little relief from that heat in SkyClan's gorge.

"What are you trying to do, inhale all the dust in the air?" came a muffled meow from behind him.

Sagepaw rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder. "Shut up, Mottledpaw," he fired back at the tortoiseshell she-cat. She was still curled in her nest, her tail over her nose, but her green eyes glared halfheartedly up at him.

"Really, Sagepaw. Do you _always_ have to be the first one up?" meowed Mintpaw, who was slowly rising from her bed of leaves and feathers. His sister stretched laboriously before glancing his way, amusement in her eyes.

"Early bird catches the worm," he replied pridefully, puffing out his chest.

"Oh, so you're a bird now?" Mottledpaw yawned. "Great, go fly into the forest and catch me something. Preferably not a worm."

A purr of amusement came from Aspenpaw. Sagepaw glanced over to see the white tom with gray stripes sitting up in his den, giving his chest a few quick licks. "Don't be so lazy, Mottledpaw."

Mottledpaw muttered something else, but Sagepaw didn't hear her. He'd already looked back towards the mouth of the den and out into the bottom of the gorge. "I'm not the first one up," he meowed to Mintpaw, motioning with his tail to the clearing. "See? Sharpclaw's organizing patrols already. I wonder if we can go? Come on!"

Without waiting for Mintpaw's response, Sagepaw dashed out across the rocks and over the small river towards the warriors clustering in the clearing. Standing around the SkyClan deputy were Minnowtail, Sparrowpelt, Robinflight, Badgertooth, and Tinywing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Patchfoot and Rockfur padding down the slope from the warriors' den.

Sharpclaw turned when he saw Sagepaw approaching. "Ah, good. Sagepaw, why don't you join your mentor on a border patrol? You too, Mintpaw," the deputy added as Sagepaw's sister came up beside him.

Sagepaw looked eagerly at Badgertooth, but his mentor didn't seem enthusiastic at all. The black and white tom still seemed to have the glaze of sleep in his yellow eyes. Sagepaw briefly wondered why some of the newest additions to SkyClan, including Badgertooth and Mottledpaw, weren't so eager to perform Clan duties. They had been in the Clan for at least a couple moons now; shouldn't they have been used to the routine?

"Minnowtail, Sparrowpelt, and Rockfur, you'll be one patrol, with Mintpaw and Aspenpaw tagging along. Then we'll have Patchfoot, Badgertooth, and Tinywing, along with Sagepaw and Mottledpaw. Robinflight, you'll go with…"

Sagepaw didn't listen to the rest of Sharpclaw's words. He had turned his attention to Patchfoot, who was padding up to him. "We may as well do some hunting while we're out, hmm?"

Sagepaw nodded eagerly, suddenly aware of his empty stomach. As assigned, Badgertooth and Tinywing also padded over. Sagepaw looked over his shoulder, amusement in his eyes as he watched Mottledpaw walking slowly – very slowly – from the apprentices' den.

"Look who _finally_ joins us," he meowed jokingly. "Whatsa matter, you got rocks tied to your paws?"

Mottledpaw flashed him a look as she came up beside him. "Yeah, and I'll be flinging them at your head if you don't keep quiet."

The patrol made its way towards the top of the gorge, briefly skirting Twolegplace before starting down to where the forest met the rocky bottom of the gorge. They hoped to encounter fruitful hunting once in the shelter of the trees. Sagepaw was excited to impress the warriors with some hunting skills he'd been practicing.

"I don't see why we still do border patrols if there's no other Clans around us," Badgertooth grunted as they approached the trees. "I mean the other four Clans have problems to worry about, since they're all clustered together, but us… we're all alone out here." Sagepaw heard a murmur of agreement from Mottledpaw.

Sagepaw liked doing patrols; it made him feel important. There were usually no threats encountered, but it was exciting thinking about the possibilities. "It can get kind of boring out here," he agreed. "Sometimes I wish there was more going on. I'll bet Firestar and his Clan get to have battles all the time!"

Patchfoot, walking ahead of him, looked back. "A disturbance in the peace is nothing to wish for, Sagepaw," he gently reminded him. "Battles lead to blood being shed. We don't need or want any of that here." He and Tinywing shared a meaningful look.

Sagepaw could have guessed they were thinking about the rat invasion that happened just before Firestar and Sandstorm of ThunderClan left. Sagepaw had been a kit then, and didn't remember much, but he did vaguely remember blood and death. Patchfoot was probably right, things were better off how they were now. But then, when would he get to test out the battle moves he learned during training?

_I'll just be extra skilled when I do need to finally use my claws_, he thought proudly. And something in the back of his mind told him that this peace wouldn't linger very long.

* * *

**There we are, chapter one, complete with some foreshadowing. By the way, all of this is taking place _before_ the prologue. You'll know when it starts to take place after the prologue.**

**Little bit of a slow start, and I apologize for that, but it's all building up to when things really start goin' down. Stick with me! As a side note, Sagepaw and Mottledpaw's relationship is going to be important. Why? You'll just have to keep reading! And please review, so I know I'm doing something right (or if I'm not, I'm always open to constructive criticism!). **

**Another side note; I'll probably get some comments about the gender of Sagepaw. The whole confusion in Firestar's Quest was that Sagepaw (then Sagekit) was a tom in the allegiances, but written as a she-cat. I decided to go with the allegiances and make him a tom. But I am aware of the discrepancy. And who knows how they'll write him in SkyClan's Destiny? I guess he'll be another magical gender-changing cat like Rowanclaw. Oh, those Erins!**

**Next chapter: Mottledpaw's backstory.**

**Until next time!**

**- Lionsong**


	3. Chapter Two

_**CHAPTER TWO**_

_For the third night in a row, Mottledpaw dreamed of her mother._ When she opened her eyes and lifted her head, the apprentices' den and the gorge outside were still sheathed in darkness. The tortoiseshell apprentice sighed deeply and placed her head onto her front paws. Nights like these were long, and she willed herself to go back to sleep so it could be over.

But her mind was too active this time. She found her thoughts wandering to how she had ended up here, an apprentice of SkyClan, when not so long ago she was fighting just to stay alive.

Like most of the new additions to SkyClan, she was a former rogue who took shelter from the harsh world inside a tight-knit Clan of cats. Her mother, Ariana, was a rogue, but only in name. The tortoiseshell she-cat, Mottledpaw's double, did not hesitate to take offerings from Nofurs, or who the Clans called Twolegs. Mottledpaw remembered many times when her mother would take her and her brother inside a Twoleg nest to take refuge on a cold or stormy night. They would eat the pellets or milk that the Twolegs gave them, and happily accept a warm bed. But come morning, the three of them would be gone. Mottledpaw never knew her father. She did know that all of them had been raised by Twolegs, but Ariana rejected the comfortable life and left one day, taking her kits. Still, she was friendly towards the furless creatures, never forgetting that they had helped her kits come into the world.

Back then – it seemed to be many seasons in the past, but it really wasn't – Mottledpaw's name was Betty. Her brother was a tan tabby named Goodwin. The three of them were a united front, facing the dangers of a wild life together. Ariana was their protector. Goodwin liked to make himself appear big and strong, but his confidence was transparent. A fond purr escaped Mottledpaw as she remembered her brother often proclaiming his toughness, only to go cowering behind Ariana at the slightest snap of a twig in the forest.

But her eyes darkened, as she remembered her world crashing down one night. And that same night, her world was rebuilt.

Her mother had been killed by the same pack of rats that SkyClan had been forced to combat. In fact, she was found by a SkyClan patrol along with Goodwin as they sat, broken-hearted, over their mothers' dead body. Mercifully, shock had clouded her memories of the exact moment when her mother was killed. But the vision of Ariana's beautiful tortoiseshell fur matted with blood was a sight she recalled vividly. She remembered yowling to the sky, cursing the creature that did this, as Goodwin lay beside her, burying his nose into Ariana's flank. She remembered looking up, her vision blurred, at the SkyClan patrol. She remembered…

_"What's your name, young one?"_

_Betty looked up timidly into the amber eyes of a brown and cream tabby she-cat. Beside her were a dark brown tabby tom and a ginger tom._

_"Betty," she told the she-cat, gaze flashing between her and the two toms. "And this is my brother, Goodwin. Who are all of you?"_

_"Is the rat gone?" Goodwin meowed from beside her._

_The dark tabby tom nodded slowly. "We've taken care of him."_

_"I am Leafstar," the she-cat replied. "This is Sparrowpelt," she motioned to the brown tabby and then the ginger tom, "and Bouncefoot. I am leader of SkyClan, and these are two of its warriors."_

_"Those are weird names," Goodwin mumbled, looking sorrowfully down at his mother's body._

_Leafstar's eyes softened. Patiently she explained the basics of what SkyClan was, how it functioned, and how a Clan was structured. In her haze of grief, Betty grew even more confused, but she felt comforted by the presence of these cats. Had it not been for them, the rat could have killed her and Goodwin as well._

_"That's great," she meowed unenthusiastically when Leafstar was finished._

_The she-cat tilted her head, eyeing the two gently. "Betty, I'm telling you all of this because I want to make you an offer. Would you consider joining us? Becoming a Clan cat?"_

_Betty instantly bristled, taking the offer the wrong way. "We don't need your help or pity!" she hissed. All three of the SkyClan cats looked taken aback. "We're tough enough. Ariana taught us everything she knew about survival out here."_

_The tom called Sparrowpelt stepped forward. "I'm sure she did," he meowed softly. "But Betty, that rat who killed her… it was part of a pack SkyClan disbanded moons ago. We drove them off, but there's bound to be some still lurking around. If you join us, you and your brother, you will be protected from future threats and will learn the skills you need to defend yourself, as well as those you care about."_

_"In a Clan, we rely on each other, but we're also independent," Bouncefoot added. "If we ever encounter this threat again – and I'm thinking we might – not only will you be safe from it, you will also be able to avenge your mother."_

_Betty considered the Clan cats' words. The offer was tempting, and she was tired. Whatever she said about her and Goodwin being fine on their own, she knew those were empty words. Would they have been able to defeat the rat by themselves? Probably not. And she saw the muscles beneath the warriors' pelts. They knew what they were doing when it came to fighting._

_And all she wanted to do was make her mother proud, wherever Ariana was now._

_"Okay," she meowed slowly. "We'll do it."_

_"No!" Goodwin suddenly spat, rising to his paws and glaring at her._

_She blinked in surprise. "What?"_

"_You can't speak for me!" he seethed. " I don't want to join SkyClan. I want to be a rogue, like mother! How do we know there even _is_ a SkyClan? These cats could be lying through their teeth! We hardly know them! Remember what Ariana told us about trusting strangers?"_

"_Goodwin, they saved our lives!" she retorted. "Did you hear what Bouncefoot said? Don't you want to avenge Ariana's death?"_

"_Yes, I do. But not this way." Her brother padded towards her, and his gaze softened. "I love you, Betty. Wherever you are, you'll always be my sister. But our paths have to spread in different directions now, it seems."_

_Betty's heart fell. She didn't want things to happen like this; Goodwin was the only remaining member of her family. "I'll never see you again…" she trailed off, looking at her paws._

_Goodwin touched his nose to her cheek. "Don't say that. You might. Let's both make our mother proud, okay?"_

_She met her brother's comforting yellow gaze, and nodded. "Okay. Goodbye, Goodwin."_

_The tan tabby tom took a deep breath, and glanced towards Ariana's body before starting to turn. "Goodbye, Betty." He looked one last time at the Clan cats before slowly backing away, and then bounding off into the trees. Betty watched his retreating form until she couldn't see it anymore._

_She felt a tail on her shoulder, and looked up to see Leafstar standing beside her. "Sometimes paths diverge for a reason," the she-cat told her. "SkyClan can be your new family. We will train you in the ways of a warrior." Leafstar looked her up and down for a moment, before meowing, "you will be Mottledpaw, apprentice of SkyClan."_

Mottledpaw sighed. She remembered the walk back to the SkyClan camp, and many pairs of curious eyes watching her entrance. She remembered the first cat to greet her – Sagepaw.

Shaking her head, the tortoiseshell apprentice looked towards the pale gray tom's sleeping form. Sagepaw had bounded up to the patrol and happily introduced himself. She remembered how he had blabbed endlessly about SkyClan and how much she would love it there. Mottledpaw thought he was crazy then, and still did now. The two apprentices had a unique relationship, on the surface only playful insults day in and day out, but deep down she respected him and thought of him as a friend. _He's still an annoying furball,_ she mused to herself.

Yes, Sagepaw had said she would love it in SkyClan. But two moons later, she wasn't so sure. There was still something missing. The duties of an apprentice didn't always appeal to her. She found some of the practices pointless. She missed running around without a care. She missed her mother. She missed her brother, and she worried about him all the time.

If SkyClan was her new family, why didn't she feel whole here?

* * *

**Poor Mottledpaw, so conflicted. Will she ever see Goodwin again? How will she deal with feeling like an outcast in her Clan? For the answers, keep reading! Or tell me what you think the answers are in a review. Feedback is wanted. Remember, reviews fuel the muse (hey, that rhymes), so if you want more you've got to tell me! Also, the POV in this story will be between Sagepaw and Mottledpaw, switching each chapter.**

**Next chapter: Sagepaw grows suspicious of some of his Clanmates and their strange actions.**

**Until next time!**

**- Lionsong**


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